The San Francisco Call. Newspaper, October 6, 1901, Page 2

THE SUNDAY CALL R rriage relation or its discontinu- too, the people of some States sensitive than others. In it is necessary that a his wife a: to death, ntil there is danger of her before she can be him by divorce. In Cali- =0 merciful that if cruel puts upon his dainty partner t affront as shall hurt her for di- , then will the chivairous law freedom and besides that, In the on of the court, take all of the un- brute’s property away from him bestow it upon her to soothe her ish s one celing Down in the southeast corner of the United States, w! the palmetto waves fieigs, there Is a regular ' paradise, or hades, whichever it ve to be. There the iron chains re-enforce the lacy links which eaves, and only grim death has » part when hearts once beat in power re in South Carolina, not for the 1 of money or for the lack of it s a divorce to be had. No divorce, or otherwise; no separation, no v funerals when the divorce lawyer comes Cupid’s undertaker. Cupid may die house, but he cannot get a death certificate nor permit for Christian burlal in South Carolina. It is against the law of the land urse, a reason for bhoth uline life is oft cut the bowie s and femi ¢ h a ver! 1 while the emigration of young m. Of «¢ where for any reason the vold ab initio, that Is rties had not power to con- xisting impediment such ere _ i guinity, then the courts o bleak and rocky New k lina will declare (h(u"'t‘ m'"( ::L" exis But if once the : anc 4 W wih, Loviies w prope joined, then no He cometh not”; an 10t meet that gubsequent misbehavior 1s ground for sweet sixteen should reap the field and divorce or separation. It is an leave no gleanings, condition from a clerical point of ese variances of climates and nd is, according to clerical beier, the only way to make a strong, sound nation. There is a general similarity between the difference of races and con- which have caused the lack of y in the laws made to regulate of the different groups 3 w England, of cours: with the harshest measrures, most and oldest age limit uncer lawful to marry. The Gulf States place less re- riage and lcss obsta- obliteration. y State and Territory in the Union, epting South Carolina, the fact that Infidelity is bsolate divorce, and a single s ail that is necessary, except In h Carolina and Texas, where the hus- band’s overt acts must be continued and notorious to constitute a cause for actlon. No such latitade is aliowed to woman anywhere, and Maryland and West Vir- ginia insist bermore that she shall bave led a perfect life before marriage as well, else are the terrors of divorce ever before her, if her past be discov- ered. West Virginta, all by®itself, takes the palm for having enacted a statute which puts men and women on an even footing as far as purity is concerned. It requlres that men should have led exemplary lives before marriage, or falling in that, they must have confessed and received for- giveness from the woman whom they would marry. Consanguinity is the only ground which all States agree upon as ground for dis- solution of marrfage, but while blood re- lationship is held by all as a bar, mere affinity or connection by marriage, step relatives, that is, or such as the sister of a deceased wife, may be married in near- 1y half of the different States. In Cali- fornia mo unlons are proscribed. dxcept such as'are within the third degree of consanguinity, aunts, nephews, etc. The wedding of those connected by affinity being permitted in about half of the States, it follows that a man falling in love with the sister of a deceased wife and marrying ber in a State where it was would find perhaps on going to an that their relations were in obedience to that law which provides that an act legal in the country where per- formed shall be recognized everywhere. The laws of ¢ Peculiarities of the DIVORCE '§ L.AWS _ JTATFE.S oj various |Why Does the Episcopal Church W.sh to Make ! Its Divorcs Canons | Mecrs Strict? ,:7'he Right Rzverend j\‘c:r; | Poitr, ishop of New | Yark. |1 shouid censider it highly im- | propsr for me to say anything af ail about it." Jhs Right Reverard &i liam | Ford IY chols, Bisko of California. \ | i The laws of the various States on | | the sibject of divoree are not in ac- i'cord with the scriptures nor w h‘ i each other. The _ pid incrsase in | ; the number of d.lorces calis for | setion on the part of the chureh which shall szt the best, example and | throw all possibie safeguards around | the Christian home, for upon the strength of that unit depsnds the strength of the nation. S R | Jhe Right R:verend Arthur! Crawskay Allistcn Fal, Bishop of Uzrmon'. The efforts of the church will be to bring its divorce canons into closer necord with the spirit of the script- ures. No attempt will be made to influ- ence legislation in favor of a nationsl | divorce law. | Ttis better that by precept and ex- | emple the different States should be brought to pass laws uriformly gocd. | The R ghi —R;vermd & lliam Hall Mersland, Bishop | of Sacramzn’o, The propos: in the line of divorce legislation is reater strictness. Mar- riage is already guarded most care- | | | fuliy in the law of the church. No | priest is permitted to marry a di-| i | vorced person except the innocent | party in a divorce allowed on tha | ground of adultery. It is proposed | | to forbid remarriage even in this case | | hereafter on the ground that a con- | siderable number of clergy are found | to go behind the record of the court | to’listen to private pleas alleging | adultery as the true cause of separa- | tion, although not so named in the| decree, and so to produce confusion | and favoritism, practically making | the law of no effect in many cases. It is a weakness of human natura | that in spite of the law there is a ten- | dency to yield to sympathy with in- | dividual cases of hardship, and this | will continue until we remove all am- | biguity in the conon law and state distinctly that the church shall no marry any divorced person whatever, or take equally clear and undisputed | ground. I ¢> not unlderstand that the| | Brepter strictness proposed is the Te- | |#ult of a lax:r morality among | churchmen or of a desire to evade the ! church’s discipline by its members. | The people everywhere glory in the ! me of the Central Western States larly there is such a vioient prej- parti position taken on this grave subject ! udice cr the part of the lfllW against H PRAGRG B nig. | UNions with pretty sisters o eceased |5 foarTage and'diyoros by the Epis- L5, B8 T the marriuge is declared to copal church. be vold and of no effcct, without legal cedings by ecither y The \Ncm;m’s Side of the | Yords: the mere act of moving into such | a State and iiving there long enough to P - | become citizens would disgolve the mar- Civorce Question. riage if 1t were not for the general pro- vision of the law which recognizes as . | g valid that which is legal where per- By &.izabe:h Cady JSianion, “ 4 ; in No: t1 Amercan Review FOB an entire revision of the laws rt In other | | fomed. 1f, however, a_man living in such a State have s0 great a fonaness for the memory of a departed wife that nothing will do him but anotker of the same kind, " then if sister-in-law is willing, they may on diverce the state proposes a | skip avrc'.is nhle hnrld an rry, to res wmrn and hv app.ly t ti ever after, comayittes of learned judges, the | 158 200 hve happly they were res.dents church another . of distinguished | of \‘irginlu.f where the suspicious lav; o | 18 looking for just such attempts, an Bishops, to frame a national la} says that if parties who are affinities which shall be indorsed by both|leave that Stare for the purpose of mar- church and state. Though women are | I'¥iNg in another which has 1o iegal ob- Teen] sted Jections to their union, in such event the | a8 deeply interested as men in this|iex locl contractu does nat apply, and the cuestion there is no suggestion that flO?P‘flflw?\gd find themselves wedded but not marrfed. they shall be represented on either | ", "cvery State and Territory of the committee, Hence the importance of l‘mnhn :;Acezn‘ smoven of 1h0‘selwhic(h t?c‘e 4 on the Atiantic Ocean conviction of a fel- | some expressions of their opinions ony is ground for a divorce for the free | before any changes are made. p:lrly.(and“l‘r,l A\&mne sentence to unl;:n.;?ln» s he The States which have liberal di- | MeL for e, dcee of itself dings for | vorce laws are to women what Canada \h]a( pjl:rposei i A | n Missourf a conviction of felony pre- was to slaves before emancipation. vious to marriage is ground for divorce ‘Husbands can leave the country | end inyest their property in foreign {lands. Laws affect only those who | 1espect and obey them. Laws made {to restrain umprincipled mex fall | with crushing weight on women. Because an inexperienced girl has made a mistake, shall she he denied | the right to marry again? | We can trace the icy fingers of the 1 “Violence attended with danger canon law through all our most| or pealth Bt sacred relations. Through the evil| [Cruelor barbarous treatment™ influence of that law the church holds | mailoe " e e afterward if unknown to the innoceat party at the time of marriage. malice.” the key to the situation and is de-| In Kentucky it is considered by the law | termined to keep it. divorces or legal separations on the ground of cruelly, and it is shameful to say that most divorces, whether granted for that reason or nof, have counts of cruelty in them. . Remedies are not usually less the evil to which they are directed 1s in existence, and on the statuies of every State and Territory are laws which grant relief to wives who have borne: provided un- { Every State in the union except Virginia that “Inhuman treatment for six months" and Scuth Carolina either grants absolute is little enough time for a wife to com- plain of. mLuman treatment should be able to grin and bear it, diverce law does not take it worth If her lord only subject for five month her to attend to her case. gentlemen will only b a vear and not keep it up £ five months at a time the divo with its attendant loss of proper: have no terrors for them. In Towa the cruelty must be such endangers the life of the wife befo can cemand her freedom. No wo that some writer has called the 1 such women “the serfdom of siaves.” California and a_few States recognize- the have sufficient menta] I render them capabie of mental more acute than physical, and ir ance with that the infliction of mental suffering is ground for r the afflicted party. In Vermont it is evident that men are not the sole offenders in regard to c 1 and inhuman behavior, for th says that “Cruel and inhuman either of the parties” warrants it ing the door of the matrimonial c: letuing out the henpecked party. F vania also pitles the plight of the victi: of feracious fair ones and grants the lief of freedom ‘“‘where a wife by cruel and harbarous treatment renders the con- dition of hushand intolerable.” The horse which has gone to the water dges not have to drink, and strength of marriage ties they a morally binding, any who wish have but to “wink and walk aw they choose, so desertion is grour either absolute divorce or legal sen: ation In every State except the alwavs excepted Scuth Carclina. % Michigan puts a slight upon divorces granted in other States by ing it merely desertion on the So, it thereby vorced, T Beware, t . of “Over the Grass" widows and widowers from Michigan, lout marrying them and returning there, it might be found that the other party had not secured the entitled separation Habitual devotion to the shrine Bacchus is not constdered ground for vorce In Arizona, Maryland, New Jors Vermont or Virginia; but in all othepr States, if a gentleman goes on a Spres lasting more than a vear, he is held to of ai- -bave fallen from Hymen's graces, except Becaus But t ot wha did not 1 implied another stence is ere is e offender liable cause Connecticut iskins and svented by re and 14 to Failure pr for wi is not deemed a sufficient shorte give cavse for divorce In over one. of the States. Remarriage is permitted by all exces a few States. And so la the story t same in the end as when it began, fof divorces usually end in marriages.